Volunteers / Helping hands : FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Library Starts Drive for Holiday Gifts

The city library is seeking Christmas gifts to make up packages for needy children and senior citizens.

As part of the drive, the library is posting “angel tags” bearing the names and ages of needy people and suggesting appropriate gifts for them.

All presents brought to the library will be distributed to clients of the Orange County Social Services Agency.

Gifts will go to children who will not be able to spend the holidays with their families because of neglect, abuse or abandonment. Lonely senior citizens and disabled people also will be recipients.

People who want to take part in Operation Santa Claus Tree, as the project is called, may stop by the library at 17635 Los Alamos St., behind City Hall, to pick up an angel tag. Each tag is to be returned with an unwrapped gift.

The deadline for donations is Dec. 20. Information: (714) 962-1324.

HUNTINGTON BEACH / Council Says Thanks for Art Center Help

Volunteers at the Huntington Beach Art Center were recognized recently by the City Council for helping with special events and daily operations, as well as for financial support.

Jerry Chapman, vice chairman of the Art Center Foundation, presented the city with a check to the council for $55,000 to be used for the center’s operations.

Chapman said volunteers from the foundation and other support groups have contributed 5,553 hours of work to the center in the past year, which officials said equals $137,859 in savings to the city.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY / Paint Party Brightens Long Sol Vista Wall

Resident Leo Jones wanted to do something about the aged and discolored wall surrounding his Sol Vista neighborhood.

So on a recent Saturday he organized a painting party with about 50 of his neighbors and City Councilwoman Laurann Cook, who lives in an adjacent community.

With paint rollers in hand, the crew covered the stucco wall at Heil Avenue and Magnolia Street with 175 gallons of white paint, donated by the city.

Jones, 50, said the wall, which stretches about half a mile, had not been refurbished since it was erected 26 years ago.

The newly painted wall, he says, brightened the area considerably. “If you drive by Heil and Magnolia,” he joked, “put on your sunglasses.”

The volunteer project also boosted community spirit, he said. “Everyone was beaming with pride. Now the place they call home looks a hundred times better,” he said.